256 LA WN-PLANTING 



velop latent talent that would have otherwise lain fallow ; 

 and all things conspire to favor the advancement of home 

 art. Then how home-like and refined and beautiful this 

 work is making our houses ! We may be very superficial 

 nowadays, — very much inclined to run about the world ; 

 but surely our fathers, ^vith all their domestic virtues, 

 never had such lovely homes. Pretty devices in furniture, 

 hangings, and a hundred simple things are noticeable every- 

 where as the work of the ladies and gentlemen of the 

 house. Native taste, genius, association, and instinctive 

 imitation, all combine to develop the true home artist. 

 Yet models we must have, and principles we must recog- 

 nize, and this in spite of the fact that most excellent 

 work is done without conscious application of piinciples. 

 Query : Does not this unconscious application of principles 

 partake of the nature of genius ? Let it be what it may, 

 however, ordinary mortals, in their artistic struggles, are 

 greatly helped by a few practical rules. Confiding in this 

 belief, we ask a similar interest in both principles and prac- 

 tice of a definite, though not generally accepted, species of 

 home art. We assert, in other words, that home art should 

 not confine itself within doors, but should exert its influ- 

 ence on the immediate neighborhood of the hoiise. Some 

 of the most delightful hours of home life are spent on the 

 piazza or lawn. It is, moreover, a pleasant hospitality that 

 offers attractions on the lawn to the passer-by. But the 

 sovereign difficulty that stands in the way of good lawn- 

 planting, and especially of good lawn-planting for small 

 places, is a widespread ignorance of lawn-plants. Numer- 

 ous streets and shops offer instructive lessons to the decor- 



